Former President Donald Trump, who spent months de-legitimizing postal voting in the election campaign and on social media, blamed these procedures for losing his candidacy for a second term for President Joe Biden. Trump and his allies falsely claimed that the election was stolen from him and that millions of illegitimate votes, including in Georgia, put Biden at the top.
After dozens of legal challenges were rejected by state electoral authorities and courts, Republicans quickly turned their attention to readjusting state electoral laws based on promoting confidence and integrity in elections in ways that Democrats believe to target members. its political base.
“The good thing about having enough Democrats in my state legislature to defend the veto is that we can prevent some of these things,” he said. “It will fall on the states to fight it.”
Cooper, who won re-election in 2020 in a Trump state with less than two percentage points, said the Republican Party’s efforts highlighted the need for Democrats to play the attack in 2022 and increase the number of governor mansions they control across the country.
However, Cooper said he hopes to be able to work with Republican majorities in both houses of the North Carolina General Assembly on things like education, health and clean energy investment.
“This is a moment that we should all enjoy together,” he said.
Other governors are more receptive to changes in the voting law. Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, recently signed a bill removing the option for people to sign a declaration to attest their identity if they do not appear at the polls with an approved identity document, hardening a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2018.
“The objective is not to suppress votes, but to guarantee votes,” he said during the POLITICO event.
He added that if there is evidence that people have difficulty accessing the identification needed to vote, he would support efforts to remove that barrier.
“My goal is to expand our voter registration, our voter turnout. And we want to make sure that we don’t put excessive charges. I hope that doesn’t create that.”